Memeorandum

November 06, 2012

Four More Years

The networks call Ohio and the election for Obama. Florida is still up in the air but looks like an Obama state as well. We keep a Republican House and a Democratic Senate. And all by a civilized hour!

Hmm - the Republican wave I was expecting is a bit smaller and later than I had hoped. That said, Drudge is flagging Romney's lead in the popular vote. What's the expression? Turnabout is sauce for the gander.

I'm trying to figure out whether I should sell the stock index fund in my IRA. If I just put it into cash, they will inflate it all away. Forget FX -- that's a bet about which politicians can do the most damage fastest. I'm uneasy about commodities because of the manipulation, but at least there are fundamentals there.

there would be little reason to book a capital gain now and cause a taxable event just to "save" on taxes; you'd be ultimately subjecting yourself to a second taxable event later on

Not sure I follow that. If a stock you bought at $50 is now at $100, sell now and pay the low CG rate on that $50. Buy back at $100 and if you sell at $150, you only pay the higher CG rate on the last $50, so don't you come out ahead?

Not sure I follow that. If a stock you bought at $50 is now at $100, sell now and pay the low CG rate on that $50. Buy back at $100 and if you sell at $150, you only pay the higher CG rate on the last $50, so don't you come out ahead?

Yeah, you would in that case, so let me clarify what I meant. If someone in a high tax bracket holds a highly appreciated stock that they're thinking of unloading in the near future, it would be beneficial to sell it now IF they truly believe that the fiscal cliff fix won't include some sort of revision to the pending increase on cap gain taxes to their ordinary income rate. Someone in a 15% tax bracket would create no advantage by doing the sell/buy and someone in, say, a 21% bracket would just be forced to pay taxes now instead of delaying that for a 6% tax increase later (probably not worth it). On the other hand, if that shareholder is a buy-and-holder anyway, and is not currently contemplating a sale, they would needlessly cause a taxable event by selling and replacing.

Apparently much lower turnout in this election. So the decline in enthusiasm for Obama was real, but Romney didn't captivate enough voters to get them to show up to the polls.

A overly long and nasty primary with setups by Perry, Gingrich, and Santorum for months of negative ads run against Mitt, starting even before he had clinched the nomination put him so far behind at the starting gate, he didn't even begin to make up ground until the debates.

An opponent who has no familiarity with truth and who believes in totalitarian gov't where everything is okay, despite the law, as long as the dear leader says it is okay is attractive to those either too stupid or too lazy to think or work for themselves. The first generation of the padded playground world and the wussification of boys grew up and began to breed their own little robots.

Half the population who doesn't care what bonds they have to live under as long as they get their handouts, an infestation of our culture by those who have no interest in human life and others who are total wusses who preach collaboration with enemies rather than face facts and be willing to defend America.

Although I am not a survivalist, I would suggest that we all take a page of the LDS Church and begin our own food storage program. There are good materials avail. by the church and other organizations on proven ways to organize food storage so there is a constant rotation. We all need to learn or refresh previous learning on how to protect ourselves and to be self-sustaining.